ASOIAF Board Recipes

[Sophelia]

This pinned thread is for the nominated people to post their recipes. No other posts please. For the concept, questions and discussion see the [url="http://asoiaf.westeros.org/index.php?showtopic=35068"]ASOIAF Board Dinner Party thread[/url].

[b]Week 1, March 12 to March 18[/b]

Raidne: Raidne's Deluxe Mac'n'Cheese
Lany Cassandra: Super Delicious Chicken that kids love
Terraprime: Fish stir fry with broccoli inspired by Korean cuisine


[b]Week 2, March 19 to March 25[/b]

Silverstar: Pasta Carbonara
Sworn Sister: Chicken recipe
Boiled Leather: Butternut squash soup


[b]Week 3, March 26 to Apr 2[/b]

HT Reddy: Chicken
AutumnEvenings: Curried sweet potato and lentil "shepherd pie"
Zabzy: Strawberry shortcake
[/quote]

Please could the nominated recipe providers post their recipes in this thread? Please wait until all the recipes from the weeks before you have been posted before posting yours.

Inviting Raidne, Lany and Terra to post first.

[Lany Freelove Cassandra]

This dish is called Zirbaya and is from a 14th century Andalusian Cookbook.
I generally just use about 2 pounds if boneless, skinless chicken breasts, and serve it over white rice or cuscus. The kids love it and call it “cinnamon toast” chicken.

I cube the boneless breasts and it cooks a lot faster than the 40 minutes listed (I also think it works much better as there is more flavor on the meat), so it is a good idea to grind your almonds before hand.

1 chicken, 3 lb
1 t salt
1/2 t pepper
1 t coriander
2 t cinnamon
20 threads saffron
2 T wine vinegar
2 T olive oil
4 oz = 2/3 c almonds
1/2 c sugar
4 T rosewater

Put cut-up chicken, spices, vinegar, and oil into pot. Bring to boil, cook covered over moderate to low heat 40 minutes, stirring periodically to keep the chicken from sticking.
Blanch and grind almonds, mix with sugar and rosewater to make a paste.
Stir this in with chicken, bring back to a boil and cook about 8 minutes until sauce thickens.

Serves 4-6 people.

[boiled leather]

For this week: Butternut Squash Soup
(adapted from another recipe)

Serves 6-8

2.5 Lb butternut squash (1 medium)
4 Tbsp butter
1 small yellow onion, diced
2 leek, white and pale green parts only, diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
6 sprigs thyme, tied in cheese cloth
1 inch ginger, peeled
1/3 cup heavy cream
6 cups chicken stock (h20 or vegetable stock at your own risk read.gif )
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 Tbsp cider vinegar
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (optional - but I like it spicy)
Salt to taste

1. Preheat the oven to 400F.
2. Cut the butternut squash in half lengthwise and again in half crosswise to form 4 quarters (2 will be round with the seeds, and 2 will be solid flesh). Remove the seeds from the round pieces, rub them with 1 Tbsp olive oil, place on a foil lined rimmed baking sheet and roast in the bottom third of the oven until tender and nicely browned, 30-40 minutes. Peel the other two pieces of squash (the ones you aren't roasting), and cut them into 3/4 inch dice.
3. Set a 4 quart soup pot over medium-low heat. Add the butter, onion, leek, and a generous pinch of salt. Cook stirring occasionally until tender and translucent. Regulate heat so that no color develops. Add the garlic, ginger, and thyme and continue to cook until aromatic, 2-3 minutes. (you don't need to wrap the thyme, but it makes a nicer presentation without the leaves.)
4. Add the diced squash and scooped out flesh of roasted squash and stir to coat. Cook over medium heat stirring often until the diced squash just started to get soft around the edges, about 15 minutes.
5. Add 2 Tbsp heavy cream and enough water, vegetable stock, or chicken stock to cover the squash by about an inch. Taste and season to taste with salt. Bring to a simmer and cook until the squash is totally soft, 30-40 minutes.
6. Remove the chunk of ginger and thyme bundle. Puree in a blender or with an immersion blender, stir in the remainder of cream, maple syrup, and cider vinegar. If you like a really silky soup, strain it. If the soup is too thick to your liking, add more water or stock (I've cut the liquid down a bit to make more of a bisque). Taste and correct seasoning, adding more salt, maple syrup, and cream as needed.

[Silverstar]

[b]Farfalle with carbonara and spring peas[/b]

This recipe is stolen shamelessly from Jamie Oliver, who has it up for free on his website [url="http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/pasta-and-pizza/farfalle-with-carbonara-and-spring-peas"]here[/url] for copyright purposes. I'll put his recipe up, then give you some notes on my teeny alterations. It takes 10-15 minutes to make, and this amount of ingredients should serve 4.

[b]Ingredients[/b]

• 455g/1lb farfalle (I use dried pasta, though I'm sure fresh pasta probably tastes better)
• 1 egg, preferably free-range or organic
• 100ml/3½ fl oz double cream
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 12 rashers of pancetta or smoked streaky bacon, roughly sliced
• 3 handfuls of fresh podded or frozen peas
• 2 sprigs of fresh mint, leaves picked
• 2 handfuls of freshly grated Parmesan cheese

[b]Jamie's recipe[/b]

First of all, bring a large pan of salted water to the boil, add the farfalle, and cook according to the packet instructions. Whisk the egg in a bowl with the cream, salt and pepper. Put your pancetta or bacon into a second pan and cook until crispy and golden.

When the farfalle is nearly cooked, add the peas for the last minute and a half. This way they will burst in your mouth and be lovely and sweet. When cooked, drain in a colander, saving a little of the cooking water. Add the pasta to the pancetta and stir in most of the mint, finely sliced - if the pan isn't big enough, mix it all together in a large warmed bowl.

Now you need to add the egg and cream mix to the pasta. What's important here is that you add it while the pasta is still hot. This way, the residual heat of the pasta will cook the eggs, but not so that they resemble scrambled eggs. The pasta will actually cook the egg enough to give you a silky smooth sauce. Toss together and loosen with a little of the reserved cooking water if necessary. Season with salt and pepper, sprinkle with the Parmesan and the rest of the mint leaves, and serve as soon as possible.

[b]Notes and my alterations[/b]

* I'm told by an American friend that double cream is hard or impossible to find in the US, but that heavy cream works as a perfectly good substitute (might even be the same thing, I dunno)

*The recipe says to use one egg. I often use two instead for a richer sauce.

*The recipe suggests sprinkling parmesan on at the end. I love parmesan, and I generally, instead, mix it in with the cream and egg when making the sauce. It gives a more even flavour. I also add quite a lot of black pepper to the sauce for flavour.

* I luuuuuurve fresh mint, and usually use at least twice as much as the recipe suggests. The mint flavour really lightens the dish so it has a much fresher feeling. However, do this to your own taste.

* The bacon/pancetta is best really crispy, although I sometimes grill it instead of frying it just to make it a tiny bit healthier.

* I like the peas literally just cooked. I use frozen peas, and leave them in with the pasta for only about thirty seconds. That way they really do burst in the mouth.

* After draining the farfalle, tip it back into the same pan it just came out of, then add the pancetta and sauce to that. Then there's no overflow.

[TerraPrime]

Fish stir-fry, inspired by Korean cuisine

Ingredients

1 to 1.5 pound of fish*
1 to 1.5 pounds of fresh broccoli*

1/2 tbsp sesame oil
1/2 tbsp of regular soy sauce
1 tsp dark soy sauce*
1/2 tbsp regular granulated sugar
1 tbsp of Chinese or Japanese rice wine
2 cloves of minced garlic
1/2 tsp minced fresh ginger (use power as substitute if you want)
1 tbsp of toasted sesame, ground up (optional) *
1 tsp cornstarch dissolved in 2 tbsp of water

* I usually get the frozon fish that is thick cut, white fish with mild flavor. In my grocery store this usually means frozen haddock or cod. Tilapia is too thin to make this work, though. You also don’t want to use expensive fish, since you’re seasoning it a lot.

* You absolutely cannot use frozen broccoli in this. No way.

* Dark soy sauce is less salty, more sweet, thicker, and much darker in color. You can find it any Asian grocery store that sells Chinese items. If you don’t want to go to the trouble, just skip it.

* To make this, toast the sesame seeds gently in a small frying pan on medium heat with out oil. Once they start to turn a caramel color and you can smell the fragrance, remove from heat and cool. Grind up using either pestle and mortar or any electronic gadget you have on hand.


Preparation

1. Thaw the fish gently. I typically take it out and use the defreeze setting on the microwave for half the weight of the fish, take it out, and let it finish thawing at room temperature. You can also thaw the fish the night before by taking it out and putting it in the refrigerated section.

2. Once the fish is thawed, cut into large cubes, about an inch in size (or 2.5 cm for Euros). Since the fish will break down a bit in the stir fry, if you cut it too small now you’d get a lot of fish flakes and not much fish meat at the end.

3. Season the fish with everything except cornstarch. Toss evenly and set aside.

4. Start a big pot of water boiling for your broccoli. While waiting for it to boil, trim and cut the florets of the broccoli.

5. Once water is on hard boil, throw in a generous pinch of kosher salt and add 1 tbsp of oil. Throw in the broccoli and let cook for no more than 3 minutes. Then drain and let cool. You can blanche it if you want (submerging it in ice water) but it’s not needed.

6. In a large stir-fry pan, heat up 1 tbsp of granola oil (or other oil with no flavor) over high heat. When oil begins to smoke, add the fish and then stir fry over high heat for about 1 minute. Be gentle and not break the fish apart too much.

7. Add drained broccoli and the cornstarch liquid and stir fry until the sauce is slightly thickened and the fish is cooked through. The broccoli should still be crunchy and not mushy. About 1 to 2 minutes.

8. Remove from pan and serve over white or brown rice.

[boiled leather]

Monday Meatballs

Inspired by an Episode of Diners, Drive-ins and Dives and 10 restaurants that now have �€œMeatball Mondays�€�



1 lb ground beef (I use 80/20)
1 lb mild Italian sausage
1 lb hot Italian sausage
½ cup fresh basil, roughly chopped
¼ cup fresh oregano, roughly chopped
1 Tablespoon granulated garlic
2 teaspoons Kosher Salt
1 teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper
½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 Tablespoon Dijon Mustard
¾ cup old fashioned Oatmeal (really)
3 eggs



1. Preheat oven to 400
2. In a large mixing bowl, add in the sausage and hamburger. If you aren�€™t using bulk sausage (recently now available at my Safeway), remove the sausage from the casings.
3. On top of the piles of meat, add in the basil, oregano, cheese, garlic, salt, pepper, Dijon
4. beat (do not cook) the eggs separately and pour in
5. add in the oatmeal
6. Spray a large casserole (or 2) with non stick spray (I use a large lasagna pan)
7. Using the mixing tools god gave you, mix everything together well. You want to make sure the meat and oatmeal get well mixed.
8. Shape the meatballs into balls the size of tennis balls, or slightly smaller. (I get 12-14) from this recipe.) Place meatballs into the pan
9. Put the meat balls into the oven.
10. After 15 minutes, turn the oven down to 350 and continue baking for 40 minutes.



Notes:

I generally make this a day in advance, but 1-2 get sacrificed to Quality Control. I have tried bread crumbs (store bought and home made). Trust the Oatmeal. These are really good on their own, but we slice them half, and make sandwiches with them on big soft rolls, covering them with a �€œhearty marinara�€� and provolone or with pasta. It is at least two meals for us.


My Chunky Marina

1 large yellow onion diced
3 stalks of Celery diced
2 medium Carrots diced
10+ cloves of garlic chopped
1 green bell pepper, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
2-4 Jalapenos diced fine (seeds and ribs too)

1 small can (6oz?) Tomato paste
3 16oz can of diced Tomatoes or 1 large (32oz) Tomato sauce

3 bay leaves
1 cup (20 large leaves) fresh basil chopped (or probably 2-2.5 TBS dry)
1/3 cup fresh oregano (about 1 TBS dry)

1 cup of yesterday's red wine (or tonight's) a Cabernet or Zin or Chianti work well.
3 TBS Balsamic Vinegar

Water (as needed)
Kosher Salt
Fresh Ground Pepper
2 TBS Olive Oil or Bacon Drippings

(note: you'll be adding the garlic and fresh herbs twice. chop 2/3 of each early and save the final 1/3 to chop when you add them)

1. Put a large stock pot or dutch oven on the stove on medium low and start or finish chopping.
2. when heated add the Olive Oil or Bacon Fat (I prefer bacon -- god's perfect food)
3 add the onions, carrots and celery with big pinch of salt. You want to sweat the onions, so if your stove runs, hot, use low. stir often.
4. When the onions are nearly translucent (5 min, give or take) add in the chopped garlic, bell peppers and Jalapenos. These should go for about 3 min.

5. Add in the tomato paste. Stir and let cook for 3-5 minutes.
6. Add in the canned Tomatoes or Sauce (I use sauce for sandwiches, tomatoes for pasta) and stir through. I add all the can liquid with the diced tomatoes. Cook for 10 minutes.
7. if you are using fresh basil and oregano , add 2/3 of the amounts. If dry, add all. Add the bay leaves

8. Bring to a simmer, reduce heat to barely simmering and cover for 30 min.
9. Add the wine and balsamic vinegar. Stir in and simmer for 60-90 minutes.
10. Taste the sauce. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add a little water if it is thicker than you want. Add the rest of the Basil, Oregano and Garlic. Cook for another 20 min. (sometimes I also add 1-2TBS Paprika smoked or sweet, not hot)

11. Add the meat balls or don't cheers.gif

Note: the Jalapenos add some character. Generally 2 is an undercurrent of heat and 4 is hot. My SO thinks 5 is too many and habeneros have been banned. These days like these better than adding red pepper flakes or cayenne, as it adds some "fruitiness" to the sauce.

This is my basic sauce that I make slightly differently every time. Thyme works well here.

[TerraPrime]

[color="#FFA500"][b]Four Season Stir Fry (vegetarian)[/b][/color]


[u]Ingredient[/u]

Dried Shiitake mushrooms, about 6 to 10, depending on size and preference.
Celery, 2 ribs
Carrot, 1 whole
Bean Sprouts 2 to 3 cups

Corn Starch 2 teaspoon
Vegetarian oyster sauce* 2 tablespoon
2 to 3 slices of fresh ginger*


* For non-vegetarians, you can use the real oyster sauce. You can find vegetarian oyster sauce at most Asian supply stores. You can also substitute it with 1 tablespoon black bean sauce (doa ban jian), which might be easier to find.

* The ginger is optional.

* The exact amount for each ingredient isn’t that important, but try to keep it 1:1:1 for the 3 vegetables, and you can use more or less of the shiitake depending on taste.


[u]Preparation[/u]

Have all ingredients ready before starting the stir fry.

1. Break off the stem part of the dried shiitake mushroom and soak mushroom in [b]cold[/b] water for 30 min. You can prep the other vegetables when this soaks. Once the mushroom is softened, remove from liquid and squeeze out most liquid, and cut the cap part into strips. Discard the stems (or save them for vegetable stock). Reserve the liquid.
2. Rinse the bean sprouts and let drain.
3. Clean celery rib, then cut at a bias to the main rib. Should have about 3 cups.
4. For carrot, cut it in half length wise first, then section into about 5 cm (2 inch) pieces. For each of these pieces, cut lengthwise again to thin sections. Should be about 2 cups.
5. Mix together the corn starch, half a cup of the mushroom liquid, and the oyster sauce.
6. In a large stir-fry pan or wok, heat 2 tblspoon of vegetable oil over high heat (hottest you can get) until it begins to smoke slightly.
7. Add sliced ginger and stir fry until fragrant.
8. Add mushroom and stir fry for half a minute.
9. Add carrot and stir fry for half a minute.
10. Add celery and bean sprouts. Stir fry for half a minute.
11. Add salt, pepper, and the corn starch mixture. If you are using the oyster sauce, go light on the salt.
12. Stir fry for another minute or until sauce is thickened. Do not over cook. The vegetables should still be crunchy when done.
13. Serves with steamed rice for 4 to 6.

[Angalin]

This one is easy (and was easy to find), and the Things actually ate it.

Honey-baked chicken - feeds four

2 large whole chicken breasts (skinless and boneless)
1/3 c. honey
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp sesame oil
ground black pepper to taste

Chop chicken into bite-sized pieces (bigger is fine, but not too big). Place in a bowl with the honey, soya, sesame oil and black pepper; toss to combine. Allow to marinate for at least 30 minutes.

Two ways to cook it (I usually stir fry, the baking tray is a nice idea but a bore to clean up and it's easy to overcook such a lean meat):

- Preheat oven to 350F. Line a baking tray with non-stick paper. Place the chicken and its marinade in the tray and bake for 20 minutes or until chicken is cooked through and golden.
OR
- Heat a little oil in a wok. Once hot, add the chicken and stir fry. Once it's browned and just cooked through, add some chopped vegetables (coloured peppers, celery, carrots, etc.) and toss them around with the chicken until everything is done.

Serve with rice.

[The Anti-Targ]

Freestyle Antipodean Moussaka

Turn on your computer, connect to the internets, go to google, type in Moussaka recipe, hit the enter key. Easy peasy.

OK so after I did that about 4 years ago, getting a recipe off a 14 year-old Greek kid who posted it on the interweb as an English assignment, I proceeded to figure out the tightwad's, lazy arse version, and here it is, vege and non-vege (with the purist ingredients alongside). All in metric too sorry.

Guess the movie.
[quote]You don't eat meat? Is OK I make lamb.[/quote]

Meat Sauce:
- Lamb mince 500-750gm or more depending on how many you want to feed (Purist: lamb shoulder finely chopped or diced). Regardless fresh NZ lamb IS the best!!
- Optional: If you want to be really cheap, use less lamb and bless it with various finely chopped or grated vegetables to whatever quantity you think you'll need: Mushroom, carrot, zucchini etc, also a good way to hide veges in food for fussy kids.
- dried parsley, no particular quantity just put in as much as you dare (Purist: 1/2 cup of fresh parsley).
- 1-1/2 tsp allspice.
- 1x 400gm tin of tomato puree, If you like things particularly tomato-ey then using 30 or 40gm of tomato paste as well ups the ante a bit. You can also use your favourite brand of pasta sauce if that's what your into (Purist: a crap load of seeded and chopped fresh tomato - too much like hard work if you ask me).
- 1 onion finely chopped
- garlic to taste, I use the chopped garlic from a jar, but fresh is always best
- Your choice of cooking oil I pretty much use grape seed oil as my std cooking oil
- Heaps of grated cheese, whatever is your favourite, I use cheddar or edam as the base. A tad (is that metric or imperial?) of feta gives it a nice flavour especially if you use goat feta, otherwise I use parmesian for a more subtle flavour boost.
- Salt & Pepper according to taste
- a dash of lemon juice (because I almost alway use it) and a splash of worchestishire sauce (again because I almost always use it)
- Optional: chilli powder or cayenne pepper for some zing, but not too much, this is NOT meant to be an obviously spicey hot dish, but if your into it spice it all to hell for all I care.
- Optional: your preferred colour(s) of capsicum (bell perpper I believe come may call them) finely chopped, or sliced as you prefer. Capsicum is pretty much a stock standard ingredient for this sort of stuff for me.

- 1 1/2 x 380gm cans of fried eggplant (aubergine) in tomato sauce 'Tamek' brand from Turkey if you can get it (Purist: fry your own damn sliced fresh eggplant you lazy sod, bugger that I say).

Cheese Sauce (Purist: Bechamel sauce)
- 50gm butter
- 1 cup of milk
- 3Tbsp flour (if you want to be gluten free I find half and half rice flour and fine grain cornmeal is pretty good. Note NOT cornflour)
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- salt & pepper according to taste
- Optional: mild curry powder 1/4 - 1/2 tsp I think, I never measure.


OK so the meat prep:
- In a medium heat pan put in a dash of cooking oil, fry the onion, garlic, capsicum, allspice, parsely, salt, pepper and chilli powder/cayenne pepper. After a minute or 2 add the lemon juice and worchestershire sauce to make a bit of a paste. Let it reduce a little, but not too much.

- Add the lamb and stir-fry until reasonably browned. If you're particularly anal about the amount of fat in your food...well you shouldn't be making this, but if you are making this then you can drain off the fat (and a lot of the flavour) before adding the tomato. To be fair, lamb mince is pretty dang fatty and I usually drain off a fair amount of fat myself when I use lamb mince. I normally drain it into a container, stick it in the fridge and once the fat solidifies I scrape it off then add the aqueous portion back to the meat

- Add the tomato puree/paste/pasta sauce/ freshly chopped and seeded tomato. Continue with the stirring and frying.

- Don't ask me how long, but after a while (if you're using fresh tomato, probably about the time you can no longer see any chunks of tomato) it will be time to add any finely chopped/grated veges you've decided to use.

- Keep on stirring, but by now you are probably no longer really frying in that stirfry sort of way because you should have a meat sauce. Basically once you get everything evenly mixed you want to let the sauce simmer (i.e. turn the heat down to medium/low) until it reduces to a nice thick consistency. No one likes a watery meat sauce, so if you added the veges you'll need to simmer for a bit longer. At this point if you've opted for the diced lamb shoulder (which I personally think tastes best and provides the best texture in the finished product) you want to make it fall apart tender (mmmmm melt in your mouth lamb is THE BEST, hands down, full stop, no correspondence will be entered into). So you can transfer to a casserole dish and throw it in the oven on 150 DegC for an hour or so. It is VITAL IMO that the lamb be cooked to tenderness.

OK while the simmering is happening we move to the white/cheese sauce. It's meant to be Bechamel sauce if you're a purist and know how to make bechamel sauce, but I just go with what I know and it comes out OK. Do I need to write how to make a cheese sauce? Come on, really?
OK quickly then: Melt the butter (microwave or saucepan whatever you prefer, again I prefer the lazy way so I nuke everything), mix in the flour to make a thick paste, SLOWLY add milk, stirring constantly to prevent clumping, add salt, pepper, nutmeg and curry powder (this is my own quirky thing, I just love the flavour that mild curry powder gives to cheese sauce, no matter what you are using the cheese sauce for). For things like moussaka and lasagne I like to make a thick cheese sauce, but... you know... do what you like. After the sauce is reasonably thick add a decent wadge of your grated cheese (BUT don't use any Feta here), as per my usual precision measurements a handful is what I normally use. By the time I'm done my cheese sauce is nearly thick enough to stand up a spoon in, sometimes I overdo it and almost turn it into playdough, still tastes pretty good though.

Aiiight, so now we have the cheese sauce and the meat sauce should be pretty well reduced, so turn off the heat on the meat sauce and get ready to construct the moussaka.

Oh yeah, if you're using fresh eggplant don't forget to fry it. I ain't going into the whole prepping of fresh eggplant for frying palava. I've done it a couple of times and while it's nice it ain't worth the hassel IMO. If you don't know how and want to try just ask any half way decent cook of Middle Eastern or Greek (Italian too??) origin. Otherwise go for the canned stuff like me, you won't regret it... well you might if you're a stuck up cullinary snob.

Where was I... Oh yeah putting it all together.

So you need an oven dish. You know a rectangular, or oval, dish like for lasagne. Sort of what, like 300mm x 200mm x 50mm, or maybe 200 x 150 x 50 if you are making a smallish quantity.

Now you do some layering like lasagne but the eggplant takes the place of the pasta. So, bottom layer eggplant (no need to oil the bottom of the oven dish because the eggplant is plenty oily enough). Be reasonably spare unless you have plenty of eggplant because you need to make 4 layers of eggplant. Alternate eggplant layers with layers of meat sauce so you end up with 4 layers of eggplant and 3 layers of meat sauce. After you've done the layering pour on the cheese sauce and spread it out to make a nice even covering. With the remaining grated cheese (crumble the Feta into the grated cheese if you're gonna use it) lay out an even covering of cheese over the cheese sauce.

Put the prepard Moussaka into an oven pre-heated to 180 DegC. As the meat sauce is already hot you only need to bake the moussaka until the grated cheese is melted and slightly browned and crispy.

When the cheese is melted to the point where it is exactly how you like it take the moussaka out of the oven and serve.

Normally I only eat it with a garden salad, but some sort of potato side dish might be good.

I don't drink at all so I have no idea what sort of wine you should take with this. But I understand you normally have red wine with red meat dishes, right?

VEGETARIAN:
Do exactly as above, EXCEPT leave out the lamb (naturally) and use a shit load of grated/finely chopped vegetables. In addition to the vege mentioned above I've used cauliflower, broccoli and spinach sliverbeet. If you want some more substance to it and you know how, use lentils I suppose, but I've never tried this myself. Chickpeas might also be a goer. Not sure weather beans would be any good, maybe black beans?

VEGAN:
Well without the cheese sauce is just isn't moussaka is it? So this one isn't really suitable for you.

I went to a local greek restaurant once, they served beef moussaka. It was bad. I don't recommend this variation.

[boiled leather]

I finally felt energetic enough to type this one up, it s a very simple and beloved recipe that I never heard of or considered until one night when I struggled with what to make for dinner and the Red Woman said, "why don't you make White Trash Casserole?" So, I looked it up and kicked its ass. I made this for my family in a 12 x9deep foil pan (I like throw away dishes, so much easier than cleaning).

Anyway, I'm going from memory, and I'll offer a few options, because I know I'm a bit more ambitious than most cooks.

1 bag of tater tots.

2lbs boneless Chuck Roast or 3lbs 7 blade roast (fancy name for chuck with the bone)

Fresh Thyme

Fresh Oregano

Fresh Garlic - you can never have to too much

1 or 2 Medium Onions

3 Jalapenos, chopped, with ribs and seeds (skip if you don't like spicy food)

4+ cups shredded cheese (jack and cheddar work well)

2 cans Cream of Mushroom with Roasted Garlic Soup

1 Cup Milk

Worcestershire Sauce

Salt and Pepper

Potato Step

Cook the tater tots according to directions. I like them very crispy. Set them aside

Meat Step

I make a pot roast for my meat. Like I said, Ambitious. I use a pressure cooker (45-60 min), but I'll assume you are using a dutch oven.

Liberally season the meet with kosher salt and fresh ground pepper.

Slice Onions thin

peel a bunch of garlic (I like 10-15 cloves)

Heat the pan on medium high

Add a few TSPs of oil to the pan and let it heat till just shimmering

Brown Meat well on all sides

Remove meat.

add in Onions, saute for 2-3 minutes till starting become translucent

deglaze pan with a half of your favorite beer (or a glass of whine, white or red)

dissolve the brown bits in the pan and finish the beer

add meat back

cover with water, chicken stock or beef stock

add in large bunches of fresh thype and oregano (don't bother to destem, we won't use them..but if you want to, feel free)

add 1 jalepeno, chopped (you can substitute some crushed red pepper or about 1tsp chipotle powder)

cover pan

cook in 325 oven for 3 hrs +/-

Remove meat to a plate to cool.

I like to use the onions, so pull them out with slotted spoon. to a bowl. The garlic can go either way, but the stems need to pulled out if they are there.

When the meat is cool, shred by hand,

run knife through the onions and mix with the beef

set aside

Alternate Meat Step

Ok, so you don't have all day to play in the kitchen. or you think "he's meshugah". Fair enough.

2lbs ground beef or sausage or ham or chopped chicken

chopped onions

herbs of choice (probably about 1/8 cup, or more, fresh or 1TSP each dry)

garlic

I would still use the Jalapeno

Brown the meat

Remove the meat from the pan

drain the fat, except 1TSP

saute the onions until translucent

Add the meat back

add the garlic and Pepper and fresh herbs and saute 2 minutes more

Set meat aside to cool

Sauce Step

I would do this after the meat has cooled, so the sauce is ready as you build the casserole

In sauce pan, heat 2 cans of Soup, 1 cup mil (or 1/2 if you would like it rich)

as it heats up, add in more fresh herbs and the remaining Jalapenos, if you use them

Add a few dashes of Worcestershire and several grinds of black pepper

when the sauce is hot, taste and salt if needed

in small handfuls, add in about 2-3 cups of the cheese till melted and the sauce is thick and luscious

There are lots of different options here, Regular Cream of Mushroom Soup, Cream of Celery, I used to love a Southwestern Jack soup (I'd put some tomatoes in the meat) but I don't think it is made any more.) You can really play with the soup choice and try some interesting combinationsl.

Build a Better Casserole Step

Use non-stick spray on your pan (butter or light coat of oil work too)

Line the bottom of the pan with Tater Tots (you will have some left)

Spoon about 1/3 of the sauce over the tots

add all the cooled meat and onions over the sauce (I make thick layer)

pour the rest of the sauce over the meat

Use the remaining tots as a top layer (they propably will not cover, so spread them out)

Cook the casserole at 350 for about 45 minutes

Add the rest of the cheese to the top

cook for 8-10 minutes more

Unless your family is really picky, they will thank you.

[konradson]

Gazpacho Andaluz

There are too many receipes for Gazpacho (one for each mother in Andalucia)...

What do you need (cuantities depends on the flavour and the people who may eat this):

Tomatoes (red ones, good for frying)... at least a kilogram

Cucumber (at least half a kilogram, and one more for topping)

green pepper (italian ones may fit well, at least a quarter of a Kg)

garlic (1 tooth)

one onion (more if it is small).

hardened bread (this was very useful in the past, now not too much, but you can add it as topping).

salt, suggar (this is to fight tomato accid) and of course Olive Oil (remember that most olives of the world come from Andalucia, like most of the Italian Olive oil sold in the US, only in the province of Jaen, they produce more olives than in the whole Italy)...

Well now you need a mixing robot... and you start:

peel the tomatoes (this way they are less accid), the cucumbers as well (some people prefer not to do this), add the pepper, and the onion, a tooth of garlic (some people would like to add 2) in a big recipient and mix it with your favourite mixing robot (or any medieval tool if you prefer, but then, don't forget using wet hardenned bread)... add the olive oil (at least 4 soup spoons), a pinch of salt, a couple of dessert spoons of sugar, and if you wish, a little red wine vinegar (a trickle).

If you wish, you can add some toppings, such as hardened (by time) bread, some cucumber (cut into small squares), and the other components... you may also add some spice, such as pepper, or oregano, rosemary...

It is a very easy to do meal... red, tasty soup, very good in Mediterranean Summers... or for lovely Dornish days... ;-)

Remember, serve cold... so put it into the fridge to cold it...

Edited October 13, 2011 by konradson

[konradson]

Cordero Castellano (better eaten in an Asador de Avila).

Well, as we are not going to have a proper firewood oven, we may adapt to an electric oven:

1 Lechal, or recental (little older than lechal, just starting eating grass) lamb, cut in two (left and right). the butcher has to give some cuts to easy the portions to be divided. Yo may separe the parts, the ribbs from its legs and head.

garlic, onion (small onions are best, French ones suit), potatoes, green pepper, salt, rosemary, parsil, a leaf of laurel, water and of course, olive oil.

Brandy or Cognac ( a quarter of a glass).

You may need a brush to paint the lamb with olive oil.

Rub the lamb with garlic, latter you'll use the pieces of Garlic, put them in the cuts made by the butcher (or by you), but do it without breaking the lot into pieces...

Peel the potatoes and you may cut them into slices or if you prefer, squares... or any way you prefer for potatoes in the oven...

paint the lamb with olive oil... and put it on an oven rack/grille... some may prefer to have it inside the tray or in a mud bowl with olive oil and water... with the species and so on...

In the tray, fill it with some water, a splash of olive oil, salt, rosemary, laurel, parsil, and a tooth of garlic.

But I prefer to have it in the grille, so it pours its fat into the tray, where you have water, olive oil, salt, species... and the lamb roasts better... others prefer to have the lamb more greasy, so they put it inside the tray while cooking.

You have to heat the oven (250ºC) for 10 minutes. and then put the lamb and the tray with the sausage (put the onions here) in the oven, put the temperature dawn, to 220ºC or even lower (I prefer 180 and a couple of hours cooking), depending in the time you've got (it is much better to spend more time cooking it)... in half an hour, you may turn the lamb upside down to let both parts cook well, and pour the brandy/cognac over it... after other half an hour it may be donne...

It is wise to cook the potatoes in other tray, and in the second half an hour, so they don't burn...

You may change the lamb for pig (and then Segovia), or goat (Salamanca)... long is Castilla...

Castilla = Land of Castles (one of the Crowns and kingdoms of Spain).

Castellano = someone from Castilla (like me).

Castellano = the owner, holder of a Castle

Castellano = Languaje from Castilla (aka Spanish).

Spanish Crowns: Castilla, Aragon, Navarra, Granada. Portugal is a free crown. Separated since 1648 (even a few years before).

Kingdoms belonging to each:

Castilla: owned the kingdom of Castilla, the kingdom of Leon, the kingdom of Galicia, the American Vice Kingdoms, several African territories, the Philipines, Cochinchina (Vietnam)... the muslim Kingdom of Granada (3 of January 1492) and the kingdom of Navarra (1512), became asimilated to Castilla...

Aragon: Kingdom of Aragon, Kingdom of Valencia, Principate of Catalonia, Kingdom of Baleares (conquered by Jaime I)... duchies of Atica and Neopatria (in Greece), almost all Italy (until the 18th Century)... except for the Pontificial states, the Duchy of Venice and some vassal lords in Italy...

Crown of Portugal: Kingdom of Portugal, Brazilian Empire (Empire during the 19th Century), and several territories in Africa and Asia.

[Lany Freelove Cassandra]

Cod Cakes

I tried several different recipes, but I found I liked the ones with the potatoes best.

1 lb of cod fillets

2 medium-sized russett potatoes

1 cup bread crumbs

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

2 Tbsp freshly grated Parmesan cheese

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

2 eggs, lightly beaten

Grapeseed oil, or other high smoke point oil such as canola oil, for frying

Boil and mash the potatoes, set them aside.

Boil the codfish until it flakes easkly. Drain and flake the fish with a fork. Be sure to remove all bones.

Mix the flaked fish, the potatoes and the rest of the ingredients together well by hand. If the mixture is too crumbly, add another egg. If too sticky, add some more bread crumbs.

Form the mixture into cakes and fry them on medium high heat in a skillet coated with oil.

Makes about 12 cakes

[boiled leather]

Thought I'd add my Italian Sausage Soup. It was a hit.

Notes:

Fresh herbs are better than dried.

This made enough for 2 meals for 3. You may want to make half or so. Cut the stock by 1/2 but I'd only cut the veggies by less than 1/4. This is a very "pasta intensive" soup. Limit pasta as you wish -- I maximize it for theRedWoman. :bowdown:

one carton Chicken stock

one carton Beef stock

dried basil 1-2 T

dried oregano 2+T

1 Onion quarterd

Lots of garlic - chopped

2 stalks of celery roughly chopped

2 large Carrots roughly chopped

2 jalepenos seeded and chopped

2 fresno chiles seeded and chopped

2t cumin

1t paprika

salt and pepper to taste

add everything to large stock pot and and simmer for 60-90 min

strain broth to remove vegatables

return broth to simmer

add:

1 14oz can of diced "italian tomatoes"

1 14 oz can of Canellini beans (white kidney or great northern) drained

1 lb italian sausage (not in casings)

Brown sausage, drain and add to stock

simmer 30 minutes

1lb of macaroni or other good tube pasta

cook to al dente

reserve 1 cup of cooking water

drain (don't rinse) and add to stock

add 1 cup of pasta water

cook 10 minutes

lots of salt and pepper to taste.

top with good parmeasan or similar cheese.

enjoy

[servethe_Realm]

this thread is killing me. so. hungry.

[boiled leather]

since this is stuck and i haven't posted, i've been adding recipes to my blog. feel free to peruse. http://stuffandthingswithlee.wordpress.com or don't. :)

[Lady Flandrensis]

Here's a dish that feeds a crowd in warm weather.

Smorgastrata

1 unsliced loaf of your favorite bread

3/4 # each of:

cooked shrimp
cooked bay scallops

boiled ham, sliced thin
Swiss cheese, in 1/2' strips

4 hard boiled eggs, sliced

for the salad layer, use judgment in proportion of:

romaine lettuce, shredded

tomato, sliced

carrot, shredded

cucumbers, sliced thin

any variety of fresh veggies you'd like

for the sauces:

2 c. mayonnaise

1 heaping TBLSP prepared horseradish

1 heaping TBLSP ketchup

Butter, softened

Divide mayo into 2 bowls; add horseradish to one and ketchup to the other; blend well.

Slice bread in thirds horizontally. Place top slice of bread, crust side down, in an appropriate-sized bowl or on a plate. Spread with mayo-horseradish. Cover with shrimp and scallops. Add next layer of bread. Spread with mayo-ketchup. Cover with lettuce, tomato, carrot, etc. Add final bread slice bottom side up on top. Butter well. Arrange strips of cheese and rolled ham alternately in a design around to edges. Place a slice of tomato in the center. Decorate with slices of hard boiled egg. Cover and refrigerate 2 hours. Serve in slices.

[Guest]

Does anyone have a favorite recipe book? Mine is "The Silver Spoon"  http://www.amazon.com/Silver-Spoon-New-Kitchen/dp/0714862568/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1451953865&sr=8-1&keywords=silver+spoon

Truly is my fav, as it is delicious and relatively easy. I have no monetary interest, just a good book.

[dbunting]

Curious as to why this thread even exists? It's pinned, which to me means important enough to have at the top of the list, but only certain people are allowed to post to it, and yet no one has since 2014?

[Tellus Explorer]

On 1/4/2016 at 4:32 PM, Guest said:

Does anyone have a favorite recipe book? Mine is "The Silver Spoon"  http://www.amazon.com/Silver-Spoon-New-Kitchen/dp/0714862568/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1451953865&sr=8-1&keywords=silver+spoon

Truly is my fav, as it is delicious and relatively easy. I have no monetary interest, just a good book.

https://www.amazon.com/Dahlia-Bakery-Cookbook-Sweetness-Seattle/dp/0062183745

Some tasty treats but Tom Douglas. I can send some recipes if anyone wants to try the recipes out.